AIR DATE:  January 27, 1995
Written by Glen Morgan & James Wong
Directed by Kim Manners

	When "Die Hand Die Verletzt" was first shown I wasn't too
impressed with it and in subsequent viewings I still wasn't that impressed
with it.  As a matter of fact, I thought the episode was overrated.  I
just didn't get into the whole devil coming as Mrs. Paddock plotline and I
felt the performances were kind of flat.  Now three years later and
watching it for the first time in ages I have to say this is the first
time I've really got into it in ways I never had before.  One might say
I've finally "got it".

	From the beginning of the Parents Teachers Committee (PTC) 
meeting where they would rather have the students perform "Annie" than
"Jesus Christ Superstar" because they didn't want to expose the students
to that kind of influence to finding out at the end of the scene that the
PTC worships the devil.  This has to be one of the funniest ironies I have
seen in a long time of having the PTC, the pillars of the community who
are supposed to uphold all that is good, worshiping the devil.  It didn't
hurt that there were some classic Scully and Mulder moments. Whereas I
thought Glen Morgan and James Wong went out in a lackluster manner when I
first watched "Die Hand Die Verletzt", I now know it was a cleverly
written episode that deals with people's beliefs and how when one starts
to lose their faith it can have consequences.  The PTC members started to
conveniently skip over the stuff they didn't like doing (i.e.  sacrifices) 
so devil takes care of them.  Just as people will skip over certain things
they don't like doing in their religion, but then again no faith can be
perfect which is most likely why it is called faith so one can get beyond
the questions. 

	I don't know if my opinion of this episode is affected by the fact
we got Scully and Mulder working together as a team in this episode,
something that was sorely lacking in the latter part of season 5 and so
far quite a bit in season 6, but boy it sure was good to see.  This was
the Scully and Mulder I've come to love.  Scully with her rational
explanation and Mulder going on about some theory. 

	Now a few comments about "Die Hand Die Verletzt": 

- So we now know that the devil approves of such plays as "Grease" and
"Annie".  Hmm, who would have guessed we would have the devil to thank for
"Tomorrow". 

- I know those teenage boys wanted to have sex with those girls, but what
teenage girls would follow them out into the middle of the woods in the
pouring rain to do it.  There definitely is something wrong in Milford
Haven, NH. 

- Best scene for Scully and Mulder was their reactions to the toads
falling on their umbrellas.  Mulder gets the best line by making no big
deal about it by asking Scully if she wants to do lunch knowing it would
drive Scully nuts if he acted like that. 

- Boy, that school needs to put some money into its library since it
hadn't even computerized its card catalog since we see Mulder using the
card catalog system to find out who took out the book they found at the
crime scene. At least the school was able to convince a local hog farm to
donate a bunch of hogs for the students to dissect.  Other than the local
PTC being devil worshippers I wouldn't have minded joining that school. In
my old high school we were lucky if we had any frogs to dissect. 

- We get one of the most embarrassing Scully rational explanations in this
episode when they have Scully tell Mulder the reason why the toads fell
out of the sky was because of a freak torando in Northern Massachusetts.
They should have just left it alone because it makes Scully seem like an
idiot. Why was she wasting her time investigating it in the first place. I
kind of miss these days.

- Nice to see the devil has to take a job as a substitute teacher. 

- Was it really good police work on Mulder and Scully's part to question
David Duran while the two girls were in the same room?  Talk about
tainting testimonies. 

- Boy, you know when the devil is in town when you see the water going
down the wrong way in your drain. 

- How early does this school have their finals since it looked like it was
still early spring.  I guess there weren't any snow days that year. 

- Now here is some good police work done by Scully and Mulder when they
separated the the parents of Shannon Ausbury.  This is how you don't get
either one pressuring each other into not saying things. 

- Shannon Ausbury is sure one dedicated student when she went back later
on that night to take her final after imagining the pig screaming at her. 

- It is always nice to see the big flashlights even if it was in an old
episode.  I suppose budget cuts has made Scully and Mulder start using
small flashlights. 

- Where was Mulder's warrant to enter Jim Ausbury's house?  Also, was it
really smart on Mulder's part to leave him handcuffed to his basement
staircase?  Why didn't Mulder call the cops before he left to 1) go to the
school to help Scully and 2) have them come to Ausbury's house to pick
Ausbury up. 

- Best line was Mulder's comeback to Scully after she explained how snakes
eat their prey and he goes to her, "You do watch the Learning Channel". 

- It was good to see that Scully and Mulder were still wet when they went
back to the classroom for Mrs. Paddock.  Because usually after someone
gets soaking wet on tv in the next scene they are bone dry. 


	It sure was fun watching "Die Hand Die Verletzt" to see what the
partnership used to be like with the witty banter between them, an actual
X-Files to investigate and everything in the episode actually happened.
Who knows maybe I wouldn't have liked this episode so much if Scully and
Mulder had worked more together this past season or so.  I suppose "Die
Hand Die Verletzt" gave me something I've been craving for a while the
partnership of Scully and Mulder working together.  I know things don't
stay the same on a show, but the manipulation in season 5 of having them
separated in most of the episodes really hurt the show.  "Die Hand Die
Verletzt" was an excellent episode that was witty and funny, but not in
the painful way that the "Dreamland" twosome were.  Hmm, maybe if I
rewatch "Bad Blood" I might finally like that one.  Naa, there is no way I
could ever like that one like I've come to appreciate "Die Hand Die
Verletzt". 


Claudia
E-Mail:  Claudia.Cauchon@unh.edu

12/29/1998

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